Profiles of Quality and Intrusion: The Complex Courtship of State Governments and Higher Education

As state governments have played increasingly prominent roles in higher education, the relationship between states and their universities ranges from staunch advocacy to bitter acrimony. The four works reviewed in this essay contrast cases of constructive state/university partnerships with examples of inappropriate involvement and profile the primary political and governing bodies influencing higher education. The quest for quality without undue intrusion emerges as a recurrent theme.